Fairy Grove
by woolums
Summary: Basically a cross - dimension switchover with a neat conspiracy theory thrown in just for the hell. Starts out nice and angsty, hope you enjoy. Erza x Jellal , Lucy x Natsu and lots of teen awkwardness to come, if I have the energy.
1. le Introduction

**+++FAIRY GROVE SUSPENDED+++AUTHOR SERIOUSLY PISSED OFF+++WILL BE RESUMED SOMETIME IN JUNE+++DO NOT GIVE UP+++SERIOUSLY IN NEED OF REVISION+++ SEE YOU THEN+++**

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**PS: I'm a BETA! So PM me for organisational shit and then we'll carry on. Just some advertisement heeree: I love reading other people's stuff, I love thinking about how it could be improved instead of fretting over my own kaka and I'm not a harsh reader at all, because I know what it's like to be criticized. I guess my writing could give some indication of what I look out for, but I believe that everyone has their own voice - so I wouldn't try to mould you to mine. Interested? Le PM box is right above. sorry for the monologue, btw - just keep reading now, fair reader.**

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**AN:** For any newcomers (: This is an introductory page of nonsense, mainly to acquaint you with the characters... but also to give you a feel for the fact that this is not Magnolia. It's a secluded wrinkle in the Ass of Beyond. There is a postcard stamp village, there is a forest, and in the forest there is a school. The students are all crazy. They're Fairy Tail, but in a different dimension. Geddit? Background story in the next chapter, or at least some context (:

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Fairy Grove, Earth

* * *

Juvia had obtained an ice – cream cone from somewhere and was now attempting something unspeakable with it.

Erza felt a nerve go in her right eye as she watched. The time for rational actions (such as throwing herself between the ice cone and Juvia) had come and gone. Multiple bodily functions seemed to have gone the same way.

Slowly, inch by inch she succeeded in turning her head away from the cream fest. There was one thing at this table that she felt could compete with the unfolding spectacle, something motivational enough that she felt it would count as adequate compensation. Her eyes locked on Gray's.  
That is to say, _she_ locked on _him_. Gray himself seemed, for the time being, incapable of movement of any sort. Aside from the free swing of his jaw, he was entirely immobile. Or was that a shudder that passed through his rigid frame?

Erza smirked and got a grip. The compensation, she felt, was in order.

* * *

The school was mayhem. Though not overly populated, the corridors were a constant thoroughfare for rampaging teenagers, the toilets veritable works of art and the grounds more or less an excuse to make out in a tree somewhere. Makarov the Headmaster had long given up hope of reaching harmonious coexistence. In rare moments of honesty he admitted that just perhaps, if such a state of affairs were ever to be reached he himself would not be the most suitable candidate. It was for reasons such as this that Makarov tried to stay away from mirrors and other reflective surfaces. Honest one-on-ones were not among his strong points.

* * *

Natsu was not what you could call a _procrastinator_. More to the point, although words beginning with "pro-" were in his opinion all viable candidates for self-description (pro_active_, prominent [insert layered snort from Lucy's direction], pro_creative_, prodigious, profound (as in profoundly awesome), and in short simply the prototype of the biggest pro ever) at the moment he was finding the urge to go off and find the lads more or less inexistent. In fact, to speak of an urge would be to lie. It was more a niggling in the back of his head, and in comparison to the niggling right in front of him he was afraid it might simply have to wait.

"Profane?" That one came from Lucy.

Natsu decided to shut her up in the most professional way possible. In his opinion, as she obviously didn't have all too much of a problem with his "profane" nature she would just have to deal with it.  
This brought on a whole new spectrum of possibilities, he realised.

Which would have been lovely and spice, had he not just then been pulled unceremoniously out of the love tree and brought rather roughly back down to earth. Gajeel, Gray and Happy did not look very appreciative of his time management skills. Rather to the contrary, while they expounded an unnecessarily ceremonious and courteous greeting in Lucy's direction, he himself was acquainted rather intimately with the dust of the path as he was towed back to the boy's HQ .

This, on deep contemplation, did not seem the type of intimacy he had been looking for.

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**AN: **I know it's really short, but right now I can't write no more and I really wanted to upload it! It's my first fanfic, and the first text I'm publishing online so I'm really nervous... Please review! If you like it, write me a sonnet; if you don't, then.. be nice, please ;_;

I'm not sure how often I'll be updating... I'd wager a guess that it'll be more or less proportional to the amount of reviews I get, though :D

Short note on the story: as you might already have guessed, it plays in an alternate dimension. Similar to the Edolas Arc, the characters live in a world not inherently magical and their magic abilities aren't the focus... for now (; My head is buzzing with ideas and I'm itching to write aaall about it, but I have to get it all organised first. I think it's gonna be quite long, though!  
Side Note... Happy and Charle.. might surprise you (:  
Teaser: Erza, the main POV is getting disturbing flashes... what could this mean?

Dada dada~ *suspense*

Anyway, tell me you like it and give me an ego to inflate. *-*


	2. Erza 2! Enter! Eventually

Chapter 1 - Earth, The World

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**AN**: Okay, from the viewer stats over which I constantly obsess, it seems people stop reading just about on this page... guh.  
so let me explain... This page is a bit.. I dunno, it's a bit slow going. I still** _love_** it (hehe), but it's a bit serious, maybe a bit too serious for the first page.. so if you don't feel like reading on... read the next chapter! I'll give ya a summary at the bottom of this page instead of my dopey AN :* Oh, and if you seriously don't like it, well, there's the door. *points*  
There isn't really a door. Sorry.

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Sunlight streamed through the light cotton curtains, throwing a relief of misty whites against the still dusk of the back wall.

Erza stirred beneath the blankets, willing her awakening body to stray back to the warm embrace of sleep and unfettered dreams. She couldn't _quite_ recall what her dream had been about, yet a sense of great importance lingered in the dark recesses of her mind. Something about… a flying zeppelin shaped like a horse – a, what was the name again, a Pegapus? That Greek mythical being.. yes, she was quite sure it was something like that, Pegasus or Pegatrus or something.  
There had been a flying Happy – wait, Happy had been a cat! Erza smiled, now nearly fully awake. She couldn't wait to see the expression that would provoke on his face - Happy in an indignant mood was one of the most hilarious things she had ever encountered.  
She sighed, and shook her head. She knew that this one would remain with her all day.

She pulled back the curtains and let the sunshine wash over her face, closed her eyes and welcomed a new day. This was one of her rituals, a small gesture, like a prayer to herself.  
"Be happy, and stop worrying about everything you silly girl."

At last, she turned and slipped off her bed. Her bedroom was not very big, but it held all she needed while she lived in the Grove. A desk, neatly arranged to hold her school books, a stack of paper and a photo frame holding a picture of herself and Jellal. A wardrobe, quite big if you regarded her as many did on first introduction: as a stingy ascetic with too much respect for prompt deadlines and knowledgeable retorts.  
On the other side of the room, her guitar and a wall plastered with quotes and photographs from her friends. The bookshelf was crammed with fantasy fiction.

Erza mulled over what she should wear. Mid – length white skirt with taffeta trim and a loose – knit blue pullover and boots? Or jeans and a wide summer top? Indecision. Tending towards the first option, she reached out to grab the skirt with one hand and the jumper with the other.

It was a strange sensation, like missing a step on the way downstairs or slipping on hidden ice. She reached for the skirt, but her hand closed on icy metal.

Almost instinctively, she recoiled.

There was no room for fear in her mind. All she felt was curiosity, and a bewildered sense of comfort. She _knew_ this. It was as though what she saw were an old object, something that she had held very dear when she was young but had lost, or given up and grown out of. As though she had left it on a high shelf somewhere and forgotten about it.

On the stack of clothes, lying where seconds ago the white skirt with the taffeta trim had lain, lay a sword.

She reached out, and nothing but a slight insecurity to the way she hesitated before touching it could have betrayed her trepidation.

The handle was a neat fit. Obviously well – worn, yet it bore no signs of damage. The grip, the indentations on the metal from frequent use fit Erza's hand perfectly.  
In a trancelike state, she lifted it out.

_Erza panted as she hit the ground on her feet. No time to think, no time to feel the pain – she turned and met her adversary blade to blade. Hate, or something very close flashed in the cold eyes._

"_Nobody has ever beaten me, Erza Scarlet." She pronounced it Scar-u-lett, and with each staccato syllable a new cloud of sakura blossoms filled the air._

"_Jellal!" burst from her lips, the throb of her voice magnified outward and Erza exploded backwards._

She landed, gasping for breath in her bedroom.  
The sun shone as though it had nothing but fertility and growth to give, and in her hand lay an innocuous white skirt with taffeta trim.

* * *

She got dressed in a trance. Walked downstairs, and sat through a history lesson as though her mind had no affiliation with her body to speak of. All she could do was to wait; all she felt capable of doing was to wait.

With every passing minute, the knowledge fled and the uncertainty advanced.

Fingers tapped on a table. Somebody's hair made that peculiar swishing noise to her right. A suppressed sneeze, from the back. Somebody adjusted their seat. And the teacher explained and expounded as though what he said were of any _consequence_.

Erza felt bound – bound between the agonising incapability to hold still and the limbo of disbelief, the inability to _move_.  
She needed to disbelieve. Disbelief was stable, it was sturdy and cynical and you could lean on it in times of doubt. It was easy to say _you're imagining it, stop seei__ng things where there's nothing to be seen_.

"On December 7. 1941, Japanese airships converged on Pearl Harbor, US Navy base in ….."

She knew this was important, but her mind was incapable of escape, her head was _swarming _and she just couldn't concentrate…

She would talk to Jellal. Jellal always knew how to calm her down, he always knew what to say or when just not to say anything. Once she'd faced herself with him she could face anything else that might come. Concentrate on that.  
She took a deep breath, held it. She closed her eyes, and tried to find a black place, a place that was just clear and empty, a void. _Breathe out_. She opened her eyes again. Mister Conbolt was saying something to her, but she couldn't quite… couldn't quite… hear…

* * *

Her eyes fluttered open in the infirmary.

"Erza!" someone threw themselves at her neck, and her vision was obscured by a cloud of blue.

"Jellal?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Sorry, Erza," an apologetic voice mumbled from her neck, and Wendy straightened up looking bashful. "But he's here too!" She moved out of the way to make space for a concerned pair of slate – grey eyes. Despite herself, Erza had to smile. "I'm alright; stop looking at me like that." It was ridiculous, how easy it was for him to make her look like an idiot in front of him.

"I guess there's no argument to that blush, huh." He grinned, and some of the tension in his eyebrows seemed to loosen.

An expressive throat clearing from her left alerted Erza to the presence of others in the room. Natsu, Lucy and Levy stood to her left; at the foot of her bed were Happy and Jellal and to her right, Charle and Wendy. "What are you all doing here?" She asked.

"Don't worry, Miss, we all have _expressive_ permission to abide by you side." Came Natsu's sarcastic retort. "And no need to panic, we all got _special_ homework to make up for it."

"Lucy, what have you been giving the boy? He'll be touting a worn copy of Shakespeare next – that was so high I nearly got dizzy."

She sighed and relaxed. Perhaps it was the accustomed presence of her friends, or just the sleep, but the events of that morning seemed far away by now, maybe just another part of that crazy dream she'd had, or something she'd imagined before she collapsed… which reminded her, Mister Conbolt was probably worried, too… she should tell him…

* * *

The next time she woke, she was alone save for the figure slumped over her bed. She took some time to watch his features as he lay in the orange light that streamed through the window. Messy blue hair covered his eyes partly, but the red mark over his right eye shone through.  
She lifted a finger to trace it, then moved over his eyebrows to his nose, under his eyes, along his cheekbone, his jawbone, his lips. When she let her hand fall, he opened his eyes.

"You shouldn't have slept here."

"You know I couldn't just have gone back to that cold flat after seeing you here. And anyway, I'd never have woken so pleasantly if I'd gone. "

She smiled slightly. There was no space for embarrassment in the dark, so she just whispered,

"Same here."

They were silent for a while.

"Jellal…"

Something in the tone of her voice must have alerted him, for he pulled himself into an upright position to hear her out.

"What is it?"

"Something strange happened yesterday. Before… before I collapsed."

Jellal did not comment while she told her story, and silence fell once she had finished.

"Erza… " she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"Well," he cleared his throat. Sighed, then,

"I guess I can't.. say much without sounding like an insensitive..."

The possibility that he might doubt her had occurred to her: she herself hardly dared believe it. The whole cause for her accident had been this discord! Still, she felt like hitting him. Here she was, actually opening up about this crazy thing, this weird thing that she still wasn't sure was anything more than an extremely realistic hallucination, and he came up to her and...

He seemed aware that what he had said had been insufficient. "I'm sorry. Look, I know this isn't what it seems to be. You're under a lot of stress, and I know I'm not here nearly enough to protect you from all that - "

"Protect me?! Jellal, this isn't something you can _protect_ me from - "

Empty, hollow. She should have known better than to go blabbing to the first suspect that came within her reach, and anyway, wasn't it better just to keep these things to yourself? Don't trust. And especially, don't trust yourself. How, _how_ could she have been so naive? She felt the traitorous sting of tears hit her eyes. She didn't often cry.  
She turned her head, studied the turquoise beach like she had a personal rope to pull within.

As though by mere effort of will it were possible to sink herself into the brine of the shore and never need to justify herself to scrutiny again.

She hadn't noticed his approach.

"I'ts alright, hey," His voice was nervous, his hands fluttered. Angrily, she crushed the tears from her eyes with the back of the hand and returned his look with interest.

"_What?_"

Jellal ran his fingers through his hair, rubbed his face with his left hand. Sat down. He seemed unsure of where to put his hands; they lay between them like frightened birds. He spoke to _them_, didn't raise his eyes to Erza's once he had begun.

"I'm just saying... it sounds pretty improbable."

He cleared his throat nervously. Traced a crease in the bedspread.

"But I believe you."

He lifted his head slowly, as through he were afraid of_ her_. The absurdity rose like a bubble of air in her chest, making her want to giggle. Wasn't _she_ the one entirely mortified?

She felt exhausted. Morning to night she was constantly running, her brain was constantly looking for some new way to torture her – _it just wasn't fair_. Why did this kind of thing not happen to anyone else? Why was she the only one dogged by apparitions and weird otherworldly feelings?

"Do you remember when I told you about those visions?"

* * *

_The feeling had been there for as long as Erza could remember. Sometimes, she would switch on the light and be overrun by the__ sensation_ _that there had been som__ething there just a moment before, __something __which fled hastily on the sound of her approaching footsteps. Sometimes, she was certain of it.__  
__When she turned corners, she was always surprised to find the other side – as though she were subconsciously expecting a __different setting, a different world._

_When she was seven, it became worse. Sounds would drift through her head with no connection to the world she saw around herself. She'd start at the call of her name, only to realise that there was no one there to call. Smells, tastes; they all converged, they pressed in. And Erza, who was too young to push aside these changes with an effort of will, began to separate herself from other children. She heard stories of ghosts and fairies, and believed. How could she do otherwise? _

_Jellal was her only confidante. They would sit in the bushes and he would listen to her tell stories: stories of elven and mysterious moving shadows, stories of magic and power. He believed her – it never occurred to him not to. In a way, these stories told a tale of a better world: a world where their lives were not determined by the wiles of the supervisors; a world where children were not born into a web of causality._

_Then, it was a lush day in late May, she was recruited. That was what they called it, for lack of a better word: Grandpa Makarov came, and he picked her up. Up until then, her young life had been passed in a desolate orphanage in a remote part of the country. Headmaster brought her to the Grove. The Grove, where she met the people who seemed like _her;_ the Grove where she was accepted, and nobody needed to know about her strange knowledge._

_The Grove, where no matter how she pleaded, Jellal still remained behind. _

_Three years later he followed her. Erza was reminded of her former life – but there was something else when she saw him again, something that could not be bridged by distance or fear. She implored Makarov repeatedly, but he was adamant. Jellal could not be accepted, no reasons were given._

_He enrolled at school in the village on the other side of the woods, and Erza became accustomed again of meeting with him in the bushes._

His lips were on hers, his hand around her waist as what he hadn't said became clear: don't worry. I don't know what in hell you are on about, but it's going to be alright. How could it be anything but, with me here ready to have myself kicked out flat on my arse for being found half – naked in the sick bay?

And a while later, she fell asleep.

And a while after that, something incredibly strange occurred.

* * *

**It was night time, and the orange light from a lachryma lamp floated in through the window of the small hotel suite in the Akane Resort. Erza was restless in sleep. Jellal, dead? Simon, dead?**

**Her dreams were populated by both the living and the dead, and as Millianna danced with Simon through a shower of sakura blossoms, one reality was easily interchanged with the next.**

After all, the difference between two identical bodies, two for all intents and purposes identical hearts was not such a big thing to an infinite realm of possibility.

And the clock ticked on in the infirmary.

And Jellal tightened his grip, aware even in sleep that something was wrong.

And the Erza of one world became the Erza of another.

Or was it the other way round?

* * *

**AN:** ALRIGHT!

At the beginning, this whole fanfiction thing was just my way of bridging the **agonising** week between FT releases, but I'm so hooked I haven't actually looked yet! I know it's flawed towards the end and it's really annoying me right now so I'm gonna be editing this text before I start work on the next chapter ~ I might be a bit of a control freak when it comes to my writing I guess.

**SUMMARY:**

Erza gets up, and ugh she ain't wanna. But what is this? Weird images of Pegasi - zeppelins (plural of Pegasus? I hope) flying in the sky, and a neko neko Happy are persistent... how could Happy be a cat? oO

She wants to get dressed, but weird follows on weird and instead of the super - stylish skirt she wanted to wear, Erza finds a SWORD in her wardrobe ! *gasp face* Golly. So, impossibly curious yet disturbed, le Erza of Earth takes out the sword. Some weird space - time continuum crap transports her mind into the body of Erza EARTHLAND, who is right now battling a creepy sakura blossom lady! Ring a bell? Yep, that's right. We're in the Tower of Paradise arc. Okay - Erza slashes and stuff esplodes, and she shouts **Jellal**! (with hate in le voice, which is disturbing, as *)

Erza swoons in class - wakes in infirmary - gooey shit with Jellal (* yu-huh they're together. did I forget to mention? ~) - and a bit of background with Erza's history of hallucination - :K seeems she's been having these "delusions" for a while now... as long as she can remember, in fact.

Now, Erza and Jellal are getting down to it in the nursing room, and** eventually** fall asleep. But quest-ce que c'est?! It seems there has been some interdimensional confusion.. mehehe. (read the last paragraph at least, lazy reader.)

R&R my friends U:


	3. House of Perv

Chapter 2 - Earth, The World

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**AN**: I got pissed off at all the angst going on in the last chapter, so I've amended my writing style a bit and I hope you like it. Oh yeah.. forgive me about Jellal's beautiful face... I'm not sure if he'll recover from it.

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It was an early Saturday morning in spring.

Birds sang and trees whispered. Rabbits nibbled at dew – spun grasses and squirrels poked their noses from night hideaways.

Light fell into an infirmary. It stroked tousled hair and exposed skin. It caressed closed eyelids; it ran along entangled limbs and twisted bed sheets, along a narrow bed frame and eventually… it glinted.

This may take an instance of explanation.

Erza Scarlet was an extremely protective person. Constantly aware, if only on a subconscious level, her mind never allowed her the luxury of defencelessness.  
Especially before the fight with Jellal, her heart was always in arms, never able to let go. And while a sliver of happiness had pierced this armour, Jellal's transition to evil and the events passed at the Tower of Paradise were all tiny tears in the fabric of her new life.

And so, as the Erza of Earthland was pulled from her dimension, as she was sucked inexorably into the infinite margin between dimensions, the reaction of her subconscious, sleeping mind had been: protection. Thus, as she woke to strange and alien circumstances she no longer wore a Heart Kreuz set of flannel jammies. Not even close.

Stretched out in the warm light of an early summer morning lay Erza, and moaned something in her sleep. The sun admired it's reflection in the bulge of her breast plate, slightly irritated by the interference of a certain blue – headed boy, who seemed to have taken upon himself the conquest of especially hilly terrain.

"H – hard." He groaned from somewhere in the region of her chest.

Erza's eyes cracked open.

She saw the cracked grey ceiling of a room she didn't know. She felt the light coming from a direction she wouldn't have expected. Her comfortable pyjamas had been replaced by a suit of armour, and she seemed currently to be acting as a pillow for a – she looked down -

The next instant of action may be slightly difficult to describe.

But to put up a fair fight, I could offer: Erza produced a noise reminiscent of a cat being trodden on and performed a backward somersault off the bed.

In the meanwhile, Jellal managed to adjust to the change in altitude by flying flat on his face in the pillows.

For now unconcerned by the agitated beast shrunk against the back wall, he snuggled into the warm patch left behind by Erza's retreat and inhaled. Deeply. He smiled blissfully and rubbed his cheek against the memory of her chest.

Chest.

Wait a minute.

Something was impeding his joyful reunion of the mind. The memory was still there (how could he forget that soft skin, the supple touch against his, and the taut -) taut! Something stirred at that word, wait… hard? He was… ? He twisted into a wholly uncomfortable shape and decided that, while there was no putting a halt to nature this was not what was currently agitating his powers of memory. There was a knowledge, a small unwilling inkling of a memory –

In one immensely enthusiastic movement, Jellal fell from the bed. Propelled by his momentum, he inched his head around and mustered the girl pressed up against the back wall in fascination.

Her long, red hair reached the midriff. She wore a peculiar dress – a suit of armour complete until it reached the hip, at which point it seemed to become superfluous.  
Perhaps those legs were defence enough, he mused, but this thought was cut short as he came to a fundamental conclusion.

A monumental conclusion.

A conclusion such as could nullify all other conclusions – yes, it may even be said a conclusion _fit to conclude all previous conclusions. _

As Jellal's mind overheated and began to go into overdrive, it came as a huge relief when the girl stamped his face into the ground and decided to take investigation into her own hands.

Perhaps it was a good thing that he never passed the hemline of her skirt.

* * *

Outside the infirmary, Erza took a few seconds to take stock. To her right, a hallway extended to a door several rooms down. To her left, a small broom cupboard seemed to mark a dead end.

Erza's mind was in turmoil. Still in a rage about that perv in the sick bay (who looked like Jellal, WHAT THE HELL how many of this guy were there?!), she had managed so far to shut out the underlying fear and tension about her strange change in location. This fear was slowly resurfacing however, and she would have to come to some conclusion sooner or later.

She kicked open door after door, not bothered about the damage she was doing to the cheap plywood as she shattered into room after empty room. They were all deserted, and to her untrained eye seemed more or less identical. In each room, several rows of tables backed with two chairs each stood facing a desk at the front. Behind that desk, a blackboard covered in untidy scrawl or diagrams; one room even held a blackboard with a very graphic yet crude picture of a naked woman.

What was this place, she wondered. She scratched her chin and examined the woman's vagi- AHA!

A thought hit her with the insistent force of a wrecking ram.

_All evidence indicates that the people who live here are very_ appreciative _of the feminine shape_.

Erza tapped her forehead in irritation. An epiphany was on its way, she could feel it building, the pressure was mounting, she just needed a little more push –

_From this, I surmise… _

_Women… prostrate Jellal… delirious… empty building… _

_!_

_it must be a cult worshipping the eternal beauty of the female form, shape and grace! This explains everything… the way the guy from back there was behaving… he must have been simply dazzled by this incarnation of the goddess of fertility and love!_

_And the building... it's empty because he was able to send message to his compatriots. Of course… he took me to be a goddess of war in these clothes, and now they're preparing a ceremony or something… or maybe they have run away in awe and fear?_

Pleased with her powers of reasoning, Erza smoothed the creases in her skirt with a shrug and a satisfied smile, and kicked open the last door.

A huge room, more like an entrance hall than anything else, opened up before her. Perhaps a hundred square metres large, it stretched from grand double doors on the one side, which she took to lead to the outside, to a sweeping staircase to the left. On the left hand side of the Stairs, squashed into a small space by the wall, skulked a dismal square "hut" of a thing. It seemed to be made of what looked rather like cardboard from a distance, but on closer inspection turned out to be plywood. Large and slightly scruffy letters spelled "SECRETARY'S OFFICE" in large lettering above the window in the side. Stuck to this window hung a note –

"Opening hours: Monday: 8:30 – 16:00 / Tuesday: 8:30 – 16:00 / Wednesday: 8:30 – 16:00 / Thursday: 8:30 – 16:00 / Friday: 8:30 – 16:00 / Saturday: 14:00 – 16:00 / Sunday: closed"

Mystified, Erza peered into the room behind, but it seemed completely deserted, empty but for a strange looking square thing with a glass screen and buttons on the front, and another big square thing in the back with more buttons and papers stacked on top of it. Erza turned to go up the stairs instead.

Trailing her fingers along the worn banister, she turned to look back at the room when she reached the first landing. It was slowly dawning on her that something seemed strangely incongruous about the whole place.

The massive building was obviously immensely old and grand. It veritably strutted with pride, and to judge by the massive oak doors ahead and the stairs she stood on at the moment this could once have been a justified sentiment. Yet, everything seemed very shabby. Anything new about the place was inevitably cheap and defenceless against her steel – capped boots, and the wood she trailed her fingers against as she ascended the stairs seemed to have ingrained the dirt of centuries. The paint on the walls was chipped; the chandelier in the ceiling seemed to have smashed at some point, and the marble of the floor was so worn down that a groove had been walked from the door to the foot of the staircase and up the steps.

Erza turned and followed the groove.

Reaching the first floor, she turned and looked around.

Coming off the landing adjoining the stairs, two hallways diverged left and right. To the right, an arrow adorned with plastic flowers read "girls"; to the left, "boys". Someone seemed to have charred that one.

Curious and beyond intrigued, Erza pulled open the heavy oak door to the right.

Her senses already heightened by the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she was suddenly swept over by a surge of déjà vu. Something seemed intensely familiar, homely even. Something about the feel of the place, perhaps the atmosphere or even the smell made her immediately at ease.

This was very disturbing.

The hallway had ten doors, as far as Erza could see, but striding down the hall she found that the last one didn't seem to have a name plate on the door.

Not having read the names as she walked by, she turned now to look at each of the doors in detail.

The first she reached read "Lisanna Templar".

A strange tingling sensation, like the slow drip of cold water down her back made her shudder. Lisanna… well, Lisanna might not be such an unusual name. It didn't mean anything… And after all, Templar wasn't Lisanna's surname. Coincidence.

She moved to the next door. "Levy McGarten" A hiss of shock escaped her mouth, and she traced the name on the brass plate fastened to the door. How could it be… Quickly, she moved on to the next. "Juvia Leclè" It felt as though a fire had been stoked behind her eyes, her heart was beating in her ears and she could feel her body shaking as she moved, as though in a trance, from "Juvia's" door to the next.

"Erza?" She turned so swiftly she lost her balance and stumbled against the wall. She felt strangely like an intruder, despite her having woken here without any recollection of how she had got there.

Before her, wearing a strange set of clothes and with weirdly long hair stood Lucy Heartfilia.

* * *

**AN**: This one's a bit shorter than the last chapter, but I figured if I put in everything I had planned it would get far to long, so I just kinda cut off at this MONUMENTAL turning point. Oh yeah, and I'm super tired and haven't really edited this, so tell me about any mistakes or clumsy phrasing you find .. please :)

Review and follow! Or just favourite, that also seems like a logical conclusion (:


	4. Le Demon, veritably

Chapter 3 - still Earth, The World

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"E - Erza?!" Lucy did not seem particularly happy to see her, a small voice noted somewhat dourly from the back of Erza's mind.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean, what's going on? Don't you…" Lucy took in the look in Erza's eyes and sighed.

"Come here."

She grabbed Erza's hand and pulled her towards the door right at the beginning of the corridor. Still clinging to her hand, she threw open the door and indicated for Erza to sit down on a chair near the bed.

Erza took a deep breath and took in the room with large eyes.

Somewhere, in some crumple in her cerebral landscape she knew that something about the current situation was very strange. Something to do with knowing that this_ couldn't_ be Lucy (different hair –clothes – room, basically). Something wondering what the hell was going on and wishing very much that it would stop, because while Erza didn't have any aversions regarding adventure and really wild things generally, she'd had quite enough of them in the past week and thought she deserved some "me" time. Something which whispered _you are __insane,_ too. Her subconscious musclemen chose just that moment to wallop that _something_ on the noggin, however, and Erza was spared any closer reconnaissance for now.

The room was large, perhaps twenty square metres, and rather dark. Open books and sheets of paper littered the ground; these, however, were hardly visible through the scattered clothes and wrappers strewed over the floor. A moan came from the bed to her right.

"Eeeeeeeehh?!" Erza jumped from her stool and peered at the bed suspiciously.

"Luce, what going oooonn~" the voice grumbled from the sea of bed covers. "I was still asleep, how could you be so heartless-"

"NATSU?!" In one swift motion, Erza swept the bed covers from the bed. Natsu, sprawled on his back and wearing nothing save a pair boxers, peered at her owlishly and scratched his belly. "You soulless vixen," he stated calmly. "Do you have any idea what an amazing dream you just interrupted?" without waiting for her answer, he tugged back the covers and rolled himself into a tight cocoon, steadily ignoring either of the two girls.

Confounded, Erza blinked at the place he had just vanished.

"Er… why is Natsu sleeping in your bed?"

Lucy looked at her in surprise. Then she seemed to remember something. She looked at the floor a little bashfully. "We're, uh, together. Though…" she rubbed her head in embarrassment "that's not how I'd have liked you two to meet."

She seemed to make a decision. Clapping her hands together, she strode over to the bed and leaned over the stubbornly snoring Natsu to wrench open the curtains. "Rise and shine, buttercup-" she yelled in Natsu's direction, before pulling the covers off him yet again. "We have quite the day ahead of us, time to get up. _Come on !_"

Something in Natsu seemed to snap. He spun around and perched on his knees on the bed.

"Hey – you!" He snapped at Erza, pointing an accusatory finger at her forehead. Erza was rather taken aback – her Natsu would never have gotten up the ire to provoke _her_ over a bed spread. She felt reluctantly respectful.

"First – you steal my sleep. Fine, I would have gotten up anyway. But," here, he narrowed his eyes in especial displeasure, "but, that you could – _second_ – steal my morning cuddly time I will never forgive."

He managed to look surprisingly fierce as he said this; absurdly, an image of an enraged teddybear crossed her internal vision.

And then he sniffed and gave her the cold shoulder.

A teddybear with fire breath and laser eyes, she amended.

Erza felt faintly dumbfounded. This she surmounted by dropping an especially weighty dictionary on Natsu's head from behind.

A heel hit her in the stomach – Erza didn't feel a thing (pf, weakling), but swung around her elbow to make immediate contact with his solar plexus just the same.

"NATSU! ERZA!" The elbow halted mere inches from skin, as the two of them spun around with apprehensive eyes; one of them, at least, could guess the trouble he was in. The other merely had supreme instincts.

Lucy's hair seemed to have come slightly loose; her eyes were bright and her feet firmly planted upon the ground. "Natsu, Erza." She said, with a semblance of calm.

"If on the count of three you do not grow up and shake, I am going to personally force you. Biological processes and all. I will _force_ you, understood? Now. Shake."

Natsu and Erza shuffled their feet. Dim childhood memories of an impossibly towering dwarf irrationally flashed in both of their minds – within seconds, they had their arms slung around each other's shoulders and were performing an absurd kind of jig.

Lucy sweatdropped. "Eh … that's not what I meant."

"Aye, Sir!" shouted Erza, and tried to kick the ceiling.

Lucy would have been astounded at the 180 degrees Erza's legs were capable of splitting, had she not just then been hit by a fundamental conclusion.

A monumental conclusion.

A conclusion such as could nullify all other conclusions – yes, it may even be said_ a conclusion fit to conclude all previous conclusions._

Hastily, she broke up the happy couple and knuckled them both around the ears.

"Get with it guys! We have work to do."

And then, ignoring the hot flush that had risen around her ears and her sudden inability to look Erza in the eye, Lucy dragged both of them out of the room.

Lucy had called an emergency alert.

Although at present Erza was at what is called mental equilibrium – under self-observation for signs of insanity, doubtful of her own coordinates in the space-time grid and determinedly under denial regarding most facts of her external and internal circumstances – she was finding it rather hard to adjust to the sight before her.

They were in a dark room, definitely underground. It was divided into two parts – at the front, a bar with stools, several small tables and a game machine; at the back, a pool table, flat screen TV and old jukebox.

"This is where we hang out," Lucy explained to Erza as she switched on an array of fairy lights draped over the bar and wall. "We call it the Hollow. Fairy Hollow, get it? I got the lights. I thought they fit, y'know…" she trailed off.

"Lucy…" Erza felt at a loss of what to say (and it wasn't because of the beauty of the moment, or even because AT LAST she discovered her true love for Lucy – chan [dumb reader])

Lucy seemed to know what Erza was doing here; at least she wasn't acting as if she was under any illusion as to who Erza was. She hadn't been confused when she first saw Erza – merely shocked, then resolved.

Erza felt strangely safe. Titania, safe in the presence of a blonde, unmaidenly cheerleader! She felt good, though. She turned when she heard the door open.

A disgruntled Natsu was followed by a surprised and partly sleepy-looking entourage.

First to enter were Gray and Gajeel, who looked around the room and then spotted Lucy and Erza. They both seemed mystified; apparently, Natsu hadn't told them anything. Not that Erza could see how he_ could_ tell anyone, as she herself was dumbfounded regarding the nature of this *meetup*.

Next to come through the door were the girls, whom Natsu seemed to have awoken by bouncing on; they were all rubbing various body parts with disgruntled expressions. Lisanna, Wendy, Cana and Juvia were followed by a pale blonde whom Erza didn't know. "Mira was already up … I don't know where she's off to," said Lisanna with a slightly petulant expression. "Tsk," snorted Cana, "I'll text her. She'd never want to miss this broth of a gossip session." "She's probably making breakfast," Piped up Wendy. Some of the others made affirmative noises.

By now, the room was pretty much full, and wherever Erza looked she saw familiar faces. In the back, Bixlow sat alone and disgruntled, while throwing occasional unappreciative looks at Evergreen and Elfman, who were standing at opposite sides of the room in any case (and definitely not looking at each other). Loke seemed to have his arm around Lisanna; while on the one hand imploring her of his undying love and loyalty, he was simultaneously fighting to stay connected as she held him at arm's length. "But Li-Li, how could you ignore this bond we share, you know, our souls must be connected on some other plane -"

Lucy cleared her throat. "Eh, guys, can I –" She gave Erza a helpless look. "GUYS! Would you listen, for heaven's sake it's nine in the morning you shouldn't be this awake -"

"C'mere," Erza muttered, then, without further ado, hoisted Lucy over her shoulder and placed her on the bar top.

This had to immediate effect the direction of every male's attention in the room onto Lucy's strawberry – patterned underwear. An instant silence fell, and Erza, rather pleased with her smart move, sat down on a bar stool and peered up at Lucy expectantly.

"Eeeeeehh! " Lucy looked down at everyone, surprised by the sudden silence.

"THOSE KNICKERS ARE MINE, YOU BASTARDS!" a shout shattered the stillness, as Natsu stood on his table to challenge anyone who doubted his ownership of the strawberry pattern. Before he could do any more damage, however, Lucy filled her lungs and bellowed out a welcome.

"Hi, everyone! Alright, I know it's early, and this is a weird place to meet up in the middle of the day, but I thought this was the best place to get everyone together and… yeah. There's something you all need to know." She took a deep breath. She was evidently not used to speaking in front of large groups; she seemed a bit nervous.

"This is not Erza." Sounds of confusion and even a tinkle of laughter sounded from the group, but everyone fell back into silence almost immediately.

"Better said… this is not the Erza that you all know. Yes, she is wearing weird clothes [hey!], and her hair's far longer too, but it goes deeper than that. This Erza… isn't the Erza we grew up with, studied with and laughed with. She is, in fact… not even from this world."

She hadn't meant to say the last part so dramatically, but as she looked around at her friends and comrades, she saw that they knew she was being serious.

"Or to put it more accurately… perhaps she _is_ from this world. But she is most definitely not… from this dimension."

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**AN**: Ok so I just realised this chapter doesn't have an AN, and we can't be having that eh. I was really tired when I uploaded ok?! *justifies something noone cares about*

Right so essentials: where do you think Mirajane and Fried are? huh? huuuh? gihi . They're making babies. Betcha didn't see that one coming.

Then: Happy and Charle - introduced at last, except I didn't actually introduce them, you had to be clever about it. And how did you like the Lucy - Natsu relationship? I think I pretty much cinched it actually, I'm really in love with them.. **why** won't they be my friends? *-*

This AN is gonna be updated with the next chapter... I'd feel like I was cheating if I just uploaded this now. Right?

Reviews reviews, my friends!


	5. That Moustachio'd Cross Guy

Chapter 4 - EARTHLAND, AT LAST!

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Lucy Heartfilia hummed a small tune as she tied her hair up in a pigtail at the side of her head.

"Looking kawaii ~" Lucy dimpled at herself in the mirror. Sighed, and turned around, hand on hip.

Lucy Heartfilia was by no means vain. But what is a girl to do when her roomie has been out of it for seventeen hours straight and you're _not – permitted_ to leave her on her own?

Lucy plonked herself on her bed and regarded the girl on the other side of the room. She didn't have it in her to feel annoyed at Erza's lack of consideration; after all, she had probably just been through one of the most painful experiences of her life. Still. She thought she could have taken the hint when Lucy had opened the curtains.

And AAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHH why was it so sunny?!

Lucy decided that _fuck it_, she wasn't going to sit around babysitting for Dragneel. Titania could look after herself, right? Natsu was a damn obsessive, what made him think Erza was in any way frail?! An image of the look in his eyes as he gazed at Erza, rescue and all flashed before her cynical inner eye.

**I wonder would he have looked at me like that too… **

**Ahh, shut up! Of course he would, we're nakama. Now piss off. **

She shook her head rapidly, to dispel the evil spirits. This was driving her insane! Guh, okay, enough. Stop thinking about that, think about what you're going to take to the beach instead. Haaa hum. Bikini. Towel. Book.

This wasn't that complicated!

Just as she was about to grab the sun cream (on afterthought, she didn't want to get burned – **well, **_**burned. **_**You sure?** – **aaaahhhhh. Shaddap, I said!**), a groggy voice behind her said "Lu – Lucy?"

"Aahh! Erza! You're up! At last… hehe" Lucy awkwardly rubbed her head. Had she been having that conversation out loud? "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Huh? No – no, I don't think so. But, eh, Lucy?"

"Hm?"

"Eh…" Erza was looking around the room, as if in a bit of a daze. "Well… where are we… exactly?"

"EEEEHHHHHHH?!" shocked, Lucy went over and sat on the bed.

"Are you all right? Here - " Abruptly, she slapped a palm to Erza's forehead. "Yeah, your temperature seems fine… You serious? You don't remember?"

"Well.. what? But you were with me yesterday too, what do you mean? What should I be remembering?"

Lucy was perplexed, to say the least. Had Erza sustained such a knock to the head that her memory had been impacted? But as far as she could remember, Erza hadn't been hit on the head at all… come to think of it, she didn't even seem to be sporting any injuries … Though that could be down to her monumental recovery ability.

But she should have bandages, at least. Right?

"Lucy? What's wrong?"

Lucy was staring at her as though seeing a ghost. It was a powerful premonition, and potent, in a way. Like rich broth to thin, she could feel a difference about Erza. There was something in her expression. Something that hadn't been there before.

"Your hair…"

"Huh? What about it?" Erza lifted a lock from her shoulder and eyed it. She had cut it two weeks previously, on a whim; Lucy had already articulated her displeasure back then.

"It's shorter…" Lucy seemed truly distressed. Her eyes were wide as she stared first at Erza's hair, and then the bedspread. She seemed to be concentrating intently on something.

"Luce, what's up? You're pale. Snap out of it." Erza shook her a little by the shoulders; Lucy jumped up.

"That's right!" She cried. "I'll have this figured out in two seconds, just sit back and watch!" (She never passed by an opportunity to impress The Erza. Even if she wasn't so sure about this one.)

"Open! Gate of the Moustachio'd Cross Guy! Sleeeepy Dude!" (*Sorry. I forgot his name. Gomeeen! [somehow, Japanese just seems so conciliatory, y'know?]*)

[*sorry, another interruption*: So the next bit is a confusion of sounds and "Eeeehhh"s, but I'm too lazy to do it properly. Use your imagination for once, sheesh.~]

"What the hell?! Which of you two ignorants just called me out with such an ignoble summon?! " Though not in possession of much of a chest, this celestial spirit was putting quite an amount of work into puffing what he did have of it **out**.

At the same time, Erza was making several inarticulate attempts to alert to the fact that a weird, cross – shaped yet apparently sapient life form _in possession of __a moustache_ had just materialised on the floor of the room she had been sleeping in. Irrationally, she yanked the bedcovers up to her chin; she did not trust moustaches on _principle_.

[Lucy: ]"Eh… I'm your master… you know that. And I have seriously _no idea_ why I just called you that." She eyed him speculatively.

"But.. ehehe… you answered, didn't you? Moustachio?"

Lucy giggled. The Moustachio'd Cross Guy seemed to deflate somewhat, and in a repressive voice he muttered "What do you _want_. I was sleeping."

"Aaaaaahh I'm sorry! I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!" Lucy seemed almost in tears as she forced a hug on the gravestone-esque spirit (who didn'tseem _that_ averse to the attention.)

"I'm not that kind of celestial spirit maaageee-"

"Okay." Plopping onto the floor, Lucy crossed her legs and made a concentrated expression. Lifting her left hand, she began to count on her fingers.

"First, Erza over there doesn't seem to remember what happened yesterday_. A lot_ happened yesterday. You really should remember." The last bit was directed at Erza, who was beginning to feel slightly guilty.

Moustachio turned around to regard her contemplatively.

"Second, Erza _looks_ different. You've seen her before, you must notice. She's got shorter hair, and look at those pyjamas." She waved depreciatingly at the nightie Erza had pulled on last night.

"What's your problem with my pyjamas?" Erza felt rather dazed, and also, absurdly, as though she were somehow failing by not defending her pyjamas.

"Third." Lucy looked slightly awkward, but she stared right at Erza as she said it, as though trying to make sure "Well… there's just something different about you. It's your expression, I think."

Looking slightly doubtful, Lucy turned around to Moustachio. "Well? D'you think you can make anything of this? I know it's weird, but I'm just _sure_ something is going on."

Twitching his moustache at Erza -she was _sure_ he was doing it on purpose- Moustachio'd Cross Guy fell asleep.

"Eeeeehhhh?! He fell asleep!" This was too much for Erza. Something snapped. Something that switched her personality, only fractionally, but it was enough. Something that made her _nearly _Titania.

Unaware of the inner processes at work in Erza, Lucy grabbed a pillow from her bed; leaning up against the frame she watched Erza stare at the now hibernating spirit.

"So… I guess we're agreed that something very weird is going on. You said that I was with you yesterday… with you when? We didn't fight together…" Lucy eyed the girl; she knew something very strange had happened, and she thought it was about time that Erza herself contributed a bit to the lifting of the mystery.

"Ugh. This is all so… and did you say fight?" Erza was shocked… this reminded her…

She sat up and tried to get her thoughts in order.

"Yesterday.. was a strange day. Let's see… Well, it all really started with this weird thing that happened just after I woke up… And really, almost _before_ I woke up."

Pulling the cover around her shoulders, she leaned into the wall. Lucy had a peculiar look on her face – she looked shocked, but it was crossed with fascination. **She knows more than I do**, a wry voice noted in the back of Erza's head.

"I had this weird dream… well, it was lots of stuff. There was a zeppelin, shaped like a horse. You know, those mythical horses with wings? I forget what they're called."

"Pegasus! Shit, that's a Pegasus! Like the guild. Zeppelin, though, what is that?"

"Why are you so excited? But anyway, a zeppelin is an old – fashioned kind of aeroplane… " When Lucy continued to look perplexed, Erza giggled "_You_ know, like, for flying in the sky?"

"Wait, you seriously don't know what an aeroplane is?!"

"Well, I've never heard of such a thing…" Lucy was wide – eyed "Never mind about that, zeppelin rings a bell but Moustachio will have the answers. Carry on with your story."

"Okay.. So, wait, where was I? Oh yeah… zeppelin. So anyway, I got up and I remember I was still a bit dazed… the dream had seemed so real, you know? There had been a Happy who was a cat!" Erza laughed again. "I don't know why I took it so seriously, but I was still kinda in that world while I was getting dressed."

Lucy was looking at her, shocked. She bit her tongue and let Erza carry on, though. **Moustachio'd Guy, I think I might be getting closer to an answe****r myself already…**

"I was just about to pick up the skirt I wanted to wear that day when something… incredibly strange happened. Well… I don't know how to say this without sounding insane, but," Erza puffed out her cheeks and frowned at Lucy, who by now was completely riveted. She let her cheeks pop, then continued, staring at her hands.

"It was as though two glass slides with different images were slipped over each other. You know? I could see the one thing; I could see the other, too. And instead of my skirt… there was this sword?"

She glanced up at Lucy apprehensively, as though expecting to be laughed at. But Lucy looked very serious; indeed, the intent of her stare was slightly intimidating to Erza, who quickly went back to mustering her fingers.

"It was so magnetic… I just had to pick it up. But then… this really weird thing happened. Well… I don't know how to describe it. It's as if I was suddenly in this fight. But I couldn't control my movements. If that had been real, I don't think I'd have survived… Anyway, I was wearing this amazing suit of armour – more like a dress really. Hundreds of swords. And I was fighting against a strange woman in a kimono. She made these blossoms fill the air. I think they exploded, but that's when I turned out to be back in my room. The strange thing is, though,"

She sighed, and looked back up at Lucy.

"… well, when I was just about to slash her, I shouted "Jellal!". And that is weird, because I said it with such hate… As if it was him I was trying to kill. But, I don't see how that could have been me."

Lucy had a horrified expression on her face, as though something were dawning upon her.

"What's the matter?"

"No – no, it's nothing." She hastily reassembled her features. "Carry on."

Erza blushed.

"Well – as I said, that's just ridiculous. Why would I imagine something like that? I lo – love Jellal. I mean, we've been together for . . . "

She seemed uncomfortable, a remote region of Lucy's brain mumbled. The predominant parts of that brain, however, were trying to come to grasps with what Erza had said, were playing it over and over, repeating the damning evidence; had long since stopped listening to her ramble.

"But Erza." Her mouth, far too far removed from her brain to stop when she knew she should stop it; it opened and, insistent on doing damage where damage could be done, expelled:

"You've already killed Jellal."

The tone of what had been said, or the feelings connected to it – they reverberated around the room. They reverberated in Erza, who knew for them to be true, and they reverberated somewhere else. As they twanged through the multiverse, Erza after Erza lifted her head to a twist of unexplained pain knotting in her gut.

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**AN: **I feel so sorry for Erza! Erza #2, I mean : ... I felt kind of bad writing that bit with Lucy telling her about Jellal.. I mean, is it my right to rip her out of the happy dimension she'd been in so far? They had something so beautiful... *weeps salty oceans*

OK I'm insane.

Anyway, review and follow and favourite and love me! *-*


	6. Crux Listens to his own Voice

**AN: **SO, as I've been informed, Moustachio'd Cross Guy is, in fact, called Crux... well, thanks. I preferred my name *sniffs* Anyway, I opted to give him back his identity because I didn't want to offend the poor fellow; he's got an awfully well developed pride, you know. Now, I hope you're all making the most of the weekend because I'm about to send you back to school! I just _knew_ you hadn't been doing your homework properly!

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_As Lucy had told Erza of the fatal fight to the death between Erza Scarlet and Jellal Fernandes, Erza's ability to cope had been violently put to the test. __**A**_** little context might be ****necessary now, so switch to Crux who is taking a break from figuring out this mystery, and we'll see what he has to say about it all.**

*Crux in bizarre suit and waxed moustache* *taps diagrams on whiteboard with pointer*

"Alright, children. In today's lesson, we will learn about the magical processes possible in bodies of magical _potential_, but no magical _manifestation_."

"You there, in the back, quiet please."

*Adopts 'I'm interested in my subject' voice and dives into monologue*

"Alright, I will begin with explaining what I have just said. *clears throat* Taking the hypothetical possibility of identical parallel dimensions, dimensions identical, that is, but for perhaps only one crucial or insignificant detail which spliced these dimensions apart at some point, it is very possible, not to say, likely, that any conceivable circumstance exists somewhere in the multi-dimensional plane. You are all, I believe, familiar with the multi-dimensional theories currently being researched by our investigative science mages? Good."

*draws unintelligible diagram on whiteboard of splitting worlds*

"Now, to narrow the hypothetical ideaspere; what if I were to say that another dimension existed, a dimension identical, _identical_ to the one we currently inhabit? What if I were to say that, in the ideaspere, we were now to travel there?"

*dims lights and pulls down white curtains, turns on the projector and makes eery swooshing sound as an animation of an earth ball being approached from space spins on the curtains*

"This is Earth. Earth is, for all intents and purposes, identical to Earthland. Identical, I say, but for one _crucial_ difference. There is no magic on Earth. At least, no magic to speak of in our terms."

*film shows skyscrapers, aeroplanes, electricity, computers, telephones and space rockets, satellites and the ISS space station* *students murmur confusedly*

"Earth spliced (you see, I am coining a term here) from Earthland ca. seven hundred years ago. At this time, magic existed in small dribs and drabs on Earthland; however, mages were persecuted for their magical abilities and were forced to live in seclusion and constant fear of discovery. And yet, some of you I hope are beginning to see a connection here. For you all must know that this took a turn for the definite better _ca. seven h__undred years ago_, and marked the beginning of our time measurement."

*film switches to Earthland, showing rebellion of mages, peace talks with king of Fiore and establishment of council of mages*

"Now, to the true nature of Earth!" *smiles gravely as he points at successive illustrations of burning witches, broomsticks, fire and hell*

"Earth never experienced the rebellion. To put it to a point, the loss of mages over time has resulted in the loss of magic in this world. Today, only a fraction of a minority of eccentrics practices true magic, and it is weak and fragmented at it's root. It could never parallel the extent of magic produced by even one of our leading mages at Fairy Tail," *adjusts glasses with a small smile* "Or even Lucy-sama."

*giggles and muttering from students* "Did he say Lucy-_sama_?"

*clears throat*

"Settle down, now. Yes, I said Lucy-_sama_. Get over it, you're just jealous." *gets back in character*

"As I was saying, Earth no longer possesses accessible magic. Earth does, however possess one other thing."

He lookes around at the still classroom with a grave expression.

"Earth is identical to this world."

"Now, I know you just saw those images and you must be wondering what exactly I am trying to say. However, it is permissible to say that every dimension parallel to Earthland is identical. They stem from the same root, you see, an Ur-Land if you so will, which spawned from it's prehistoric depths each and every dimension now in existence. Some are very distant, some, such as Earth, relatively near. Distance is insignificant, however, in multi-dimensional space. It is measured in similarity and dissimilarity. Travel, were it possible, would be equally possible to each, and beings from each world would be completely compatible with other dimensions."

"Now that I have explained the basics, back to business!" *jerks curtains back up and switches off projector with abrupt gesture* *students grumble in harsh light*

"The base hypothesis at the foundation of this talk is the possibility that a body previously not exposed to high levels of magic could still be capable of receiving magic into it's depths, could still, in a word, be _permeable_ to magic, once brought into an environment of high magical saturation."

"This idea is akin to the accepted law of movement of water through a membrane, osmo- *cough cough* - never mind. As I was saying, ahem, the water will naturally flow from an area of high concentration to one of low concentration, and thus ideally create equal concentration throughout."

***bonk* "Aah, woolums-chan, don't bonk my head like that it's not respectful!" "Then shut up about physics and get on with the story! You're losing me readers!" *bonk***

*ice pack application*

"Tsk. All right, I'm gonna wrap this up because _apparently_ I'm losing a certain someone _readers_. "

"Readers? Is sensei going senile?" "I always did think he didn't have his feet properly in this world…" "He's a celestial spirit, duh!"

"**Settle down, imbeciles."**

"Sensei?"

"I didn't say anything. Now shut up." *wrenches his way back into character*

"As I was saying, magic is sucked into the body of the previously dormant mage, as you would imagine air being sucked into a vacuum. However, there can be several complications. For one, this mage is not likely to have the physical and mental strength to keep check of this amount of magic."

*illustrates on board*

"For another, the suction created by this influx is going to cause much more magic to enter the body than it would have had there been a steady exposure to magic since childhood. The growing mage learns to master this influx, and only allows a limited amount of magic into the body. The hypothetical virgin mage, however, will have no such training. They exist in an extremely volatile state, and any violent change of emotion, or hypothetically speaking even a specially adjusted spell could wrench open the floodgates for the magic to begin entering that mage. It is for this reason that exposure to magic can be very, very dangerous to an otherworldly being. Hypothetically speaking, of course." *cough*

"**Aaagghh what have I done what have I done?! I can see a plot twist coming.. shit, Erza! Get outta here!" *woolums-chan spins in circles with Lamia Scale master***

"**Erza can't hear you… and I can't believe you created me. I refuse to accept it. You're an idiot."**

*clears throat*

"Anyway, any questions, children?"

"Yes. Um, sensei? Why did you just tell us all of this? It's really good weather.. and that was pretty useless."

*moustache pull*

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**AN**: heh, I like Crux. I want him to do my homework for me. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this so far, and if you are, please tell me! You have no idea how motivating reviews can be... well, you probably do : For a shared sense of purpose? Also, I always check out my reviewers.. so it'll guarantee you a constructive review, mehehe *bribery of the lowest form*

To Sundays, and second chances at homework failures and.. third.. deadlines! Oh damn.


	7. General Shenanigans plus Erza Explodes

**+++IMPORTANT NEWS BROADCAST+++WOOLUMS IS PISSED OFF AT THIS SHIT+++SUSPENDING FAIRY GROVE UPDATES+++WILL BE RESUMED AROUND JUNE WHEN WOOLLY HAS HER OWN LAPTOP AND THE FREE TIME TO EDIT BEGINNING+++IF YOU READ THIS FAR YOU PROBABLY LIKE IT SO ... I'm sorry. *downcast eyes***

**Anyway, that's it bros and bro-esses. See you in June :)**

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Earthland, Akane Resort

* * *

_In the meanwhile…_

„Aaaghhh! AAARGGHHHH! GAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" ... said Erza.

And writhed in unimaginable pain and suffering.

**Perhaps I should explain?**

**So. You just read my transcription of Crux's interesting speech. I hope you took it all in *Erza glare* **

**Well, if you didn't, of course I don't miind. That's why I've spent fifteen minutes of my precious time making THIS: A Summary. ! **

**...**

***crickets cricket and birds chirp***

**...**

**HAHAHAHAHA. LOL. As if I'd make life easier for you. I slaved on that. I'm not making it easy for you, bakas.**

***boring interval of woolums muttering about stupid readers***

***defeated slump***

**Earth Erza has a vacuum cleaner in her chest that pulls lots of magic at it once it gets into magic environment. That happens when she gets into a horrible emotional situation or when evil people do magic on her. Let's see what happens. Oh yeah, about the pain? Vacuum cleaners don't got no easy life, just saying. You should be a bit more thankful.**

"GAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

The demented quasi-mage thrashing on the ground wasn't exactly interested in Crux' opinion.

Her world was consumed by pain.

She had killed... Jellal? Jellal... who had loved her... Jellal... who had followed her... saved her...

**Woolums: Now, if **_**I**_** was sucked into a different world and told I'd killed my boyfriend, I'd be sad. Don't misunderstand me. I'd send his grave flowers. Or something. But I wouldn't overreac—**

**Aquarius: SHUT UP NOONE CARES. Oh and wait... **_**if**_**? Mehehehehehe. Nobody wants yo-**

**Lucy: EVERYBODY JUST FUCK OFF OUT OF MY MIND**

She had killed… Jellal… the one… who had given her her name? She had killed... herself… she herself shouldn't be alive… she should be… where Jellal was…

To Lucy and the others crowded in the room, the sight was a fearsome display of magical energy. Their honed magical skills perceived Erza's new aura like a punch in the face; a powerful, vaguely purple, pulsing miasma of fluctuating colours.

Natsu, Happy, Gray and Juvia had all come running at the sound of Erza's agonised screams. As Erza's old friends had already been sent off, they weren't there to comfort her (**and wouldn't have been much help, anyway.**).

The four friends were now having a heated discussion about what to do next. Punctuated by Erza's screams, Lucy had explained her understanding of the situation. Basically, it was really just a question of how harmful transportation would be to her by now.

"No! We can't do this to her! She's gone through so much already!"

Natsu moved himself between the delirious mage and the group with a fierce expression.

"Natsu.. that's not our Erza..." sighed Lucy, sweatdropping. "And anyway, you're just scared of transportation, duh."

"Aye!" Happy proclaimed from beside Lucy, wings outstretched.

Crux was still asleep leaning against a corner of the bed.

Breaking the tense silence that had fallen, Juvia hesitantly tried to formulate a thought that had been working at her for a while now.

"Eh.. Juvia thinks we should do whatever Gray-sama thinks is best!"

*sweatdrop*

It was at this point, however, that Erza seemed to fall silent. Her body simply slumped from its tense position and her belaboured breathing slowed down. She seemed almost peaceful.

The group of concerned teenagers crowded around her. "What happened? Is she okay?" Lucy asked, voicing the obvious. Everyone turned to Natsu. "She seems to have calmed down a bit..." he said, reluctantly.

"Erza never calms down." Happy popped up to say, eyes downcast, the hint of tears in his voice.

"… get a hold on the situation, dumb cat."

"Natsuuuuuu! ;-; Lucy called me a-"

"Look." Gray seemed to have woken from a reverie. Patting the edge of his right hand in his left, he continued with furrowed brow.

"We have to get her to Master and explain the situation. Otherwise this is just going to continue, we have no way of gauging what is going to happen next."

"Juvia said so too!"

*ignore*

"If we don't move now we'll never get this fixed, or find out what the hell is happening. You say she had no magic beforehand?" he asked, turning to Lucy. Ignoring Juvia's dagger – eyes, Lucy tried to think about what exactly had happened.

"Well, she just seemed different... I thought at the time it was only her mannerisms and the way she was dressed and didn't have bandages, but I might have noticed the thing with the magic subconsciously."

"Natsuu.." Happy cupped his paw before his mouth as he bobbed at Natsu's ear, pretending that he hadn't noticed everyone turning to watch.

"Natsu.. Gray's just.. nfgmbl. .. Juvia… fufufu~" And the two held each other up, trying desperately to be inconspicuous about their giggling, but still directing everyone's attention at them.

Until they were rudely interrupted by a Unison Raid water and ice blast which sent them exploding out of the side of the building.

In the ensuing chaos, Juvia dancing on her feet with her red face in her hands as she giggled about Gray being inside her, Gray and Natsu bashing each other repeatedly on the head, Happy obliviously eating a fish and Lucy.. Lucy just telling everyone to grow the fuck up, AND WHAT ABOUT ERZA?! -

Erza who, it seemed, still slept deeply and soundly.

Erza who seemed to be vibrating slightly. Who, at that, seemed to be emitting a strange glow – green? Purple?

A pillar of white light entwined with veins of a poisonous purple and red rent the building apart, streaming into the sky like a pin marking some bizarre intercontinental map.

Erza who exploded the group of nitwits out of the building with one unconscious thought because seriously they were pissing her off!

* * *

**Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm right there with you. **_**That's more like it.**_

**Way-to-go, Titania. And this is why you are now and always will be my favourite FT character. But psst. Forget I even said that. Character? Oh pshaw.**

* * *

Natsu was the first to recover. Stirring groggily beneath a heap of shrapnel and what seemed to be a large part of someone's doorframe, he took several seconds to regain consciousness fully.

Then he blasted apart the insulting objects with derision. What the hell was going on?!

As Natsu tried to gain his bearing in the demolished landscape, Horologium jogged up.

"Let me out, let me out! ... she says."

"Horologium! Thank god." Natsu cupped his hands against the glass of the astral spirit's storage belly to try and see Lucy through the dust sweeping the scene.

This proved to be both one of the nicest experiences of his life, and also not quite helpful.

"Natsu, why is there blood coming out of your nose? ... she said", stated Horologium in a matter-of-fact voice.

And they both watched as Natsu keeled over unconscious on the ground again.

"Eh... what? ...she says."

*Okay, second chance.*

"Juvia! Gray!... she says."

"Oi, Horologium? Then Lucy's there too, good job. And what happened to Natsu?"

"Eeeeek Gray-sama noticed that Lucy must be in Horologium! ETERNAL RIVALS."

"Juvia, you're insane. ...she says."

"Gray-sama! Lucy is in Horologium! She is not a maiden anymore! Juvia would _never_ give up her virginity to anyone but-"

"Shut up, Juvia. ...she says."

"What did you saaay? You want to marry Gray-sama and have twelve children with him! I will never forgive you!"

"I never said that.. she says"

"*sweatdrop*, she says"

Juvia now approached Horologium in a threatening manner, narrowing her eyes at the glass to give Lucy the full benefit of her devilish glare.

"Lucy-enemy will _never_ defeat Juvia in love because _Juvia_ can give birth to AS MANY CHILDREN AS GRAY-SAMA DESIRES." Juvia made a fist over her heart and bounced love-eyes in Gray's direction.

"Juvia is water! Babies simply flush out!"

Alternating the love eyes and the daggers was a complicated thing. But Juvia did it. Because she was an awesome water mage. An awesome water mage.

**And a crazy bitch.**

Gray-sama: *retch* "Juvia, you're not bearing my children."

Juvia: *keels over*

"Let me out now! ... she says."

"I can't, because you're naked. ...I say."

"Eeeeeek! ... she says."

*blush* ... Gray says.

* * *

*Lucy pillages some clothes from someone's exploded wardrobe and we carry on*

* * *

It turned out that Erza lay completely undamaged at the precise epicentre of the magical expulsion. And she was still unconscious. Resilient beast.

* * *

-Summary-

_Accepting that things are getting pretty much critical, Lucy summons a binding spell from the celestial plane to fasten Erza's magic inside her body. This also creates a temporary boundary which the incoming magic cannot cross. In this way, Erza is cut out of the endless circle and regains consciousness, completely without memory of the events that have passed during her absence. However, she is still very shell – shocked because of what Lucy has told her, and doesn't respond to communication. Since they have to escape the converging Guards* of the town, who have located them as the source of the destruction, the group makes a run for it, somehow manages to flag down a carriage to the train station and from there catches a train to Magnolia. On the way, they try to explain the situation that passed to Erza. __Cue: Erza's thoughts once they have finished talking__. In the tense silence, she gazes out of the window at the unfamiliar landscape and wonders at the immense difference between her world and the one she has been thrust into._

* * *

_How could this happen? All I want is to feel his solid form beside me, the comfort and the safety… I never really realised how much I took it for granted. But now that I've lost it, I can't think of anything but that absence._

_I wonder what he's doing? I wonder does he realise how much I need him._

_And… if it really is as it seems, and these worlds hold so much in common… I wonder how Earthland Erza could kill _him_. It's inconceivable._

Lucy sighed and raised her eyebrows at Gray, who was sitting opposite her. She should have been more careful, but damn it this was going too far. Yes, Jellal was dead, but… well, Erza hadn't reacted like this, had she? Lucy felt vaguely jealous of this Erza's emotional depth, and yet…

Lucy simply wasn't used to such weakness in her most powerful friend. She didn't like to see it; she didn't want to continue seeing it.

However, she couldn't see what she could do about it.

Gray seemed to pick up on her unrest. He frowned, and turned to Natsu. Pause for a moment in time, an intangible moment between the swoosh of his hand in the air and the touch it lands on Natsu's shoulder.

They all knew that there had been some mystery surrounding Jellal's death, some ambiguity that hadn't been satisfied by Erza's explanation.

Natsu was resolutely secretive about the entire thing, however, and nobody liked to ask him.

But perhaps this was the time to make an exception.

… sadly, Natsu was too preoccupied with retaining the vomit to act on that impulse just yet. U_U

His face vaguely resembled a nauseated backside as he drooled over the arm rest, hanging into the corridor like a wet fish. ("Sakane!"* )

However, Erza's emotional condition would be forced to take a back seat rather soon.

* * *

**Just to keep the storyline interesting, emotions high – let me give you a sneak peek, let me do some spoiling**.

Within approximately thirty seconds, not one of the inhabitants of that carriage will be in any way capable of assuaging Erza's sense of inherited guilt. Not only is it questionable whether they will be physically capable; I seriously doubt whether, given the highly unlikely possibility that any of them escape unscathed, they will be able to find Erza. Yes – you may take it for granted that Erza will not be easy to find.

And now that I have told you this, let us move on to more pressing matters.

For who could know of Earth Erza's true nature – and what could they possibly want with her?

* * *

**AN**: ok I'm in a bad mood. I've got a cold. I'm gonna be eighteen soon. Both of these things suck.

I don't know if my mood reflects in my writing u-u ... a large part of writing wasn't done in this mood though... anyway, I tried to make it lighthearted because there's heavy stuff coming up. I'll try and make that lighter too, though. Sheesh.

blehblibluh. here's that star: *Sakane? means fish. That was obviously Happy. Derp.

I felt vaguely like the crazy mask guy in - whatever that horror movie's called, you know, the guy who goes... **I want to play a gaame**...

But I've been feeling like that ever since I took these character's fates in my hands, so I guess I shouldn't worry about it. I wonder is this why I want to be a writer? I wonder am I over-speculating? Good night.

**+++OH YEAH...ABOUT THE TENSION THING...WELL, I KINDA DID THAT ON PURPOSE. SORRY, I GUESS+++**


End file.
